The present invention relates to an electronic device that has heat-generating parts which give off heat and a power supply unit that supplies electric power to the at-generating parts.
There has been a demand for higher speed in computation and other processing capacity in CPU (central processing unit) and other electronic components of video game devices, personal computers, and other electronic devices in order to process an enormous amount of multimedia information at high speed.
When one tries to increase the speed of processing capacity, the CPU itself generates more heat, because of the higher speed of signal transmission and reception and more complicated wiring within the CPU, and greater amount of heat generated from its elements. Increased heat generation raises the temperature inside the device, which leads to instability in the operation not just of the CPU but of other electronic components as well. This leads to a demand for electronic components that shed such heat, in other words, for high-efficiency cooling methods for heat-generating parts.
On the other hand, for portability and ease of use, progress is being made in reducing the size of electronic devices themselves by reducing their volume. Moreover, reducing their size reduces the space inside the electronic devices, and heat from heat-generating components tends to quickly raise the temperature inside the device, so along with reducing the size of electronic devices, what is required is a structure that efficiently cools the electronic components that generate heat.
It is an object of this invention to provide an electronic device whose heat-generating components are efficiently cooled and at the same time can be made smaller.
To obtain the above and other objects, the electronic device of the present invention includes heat-generating components that emit heat; a power supply unit that supplies electric power to said heat-generating components. Cooling channels for introducing air from outside of the device as cooling air into an interior of the electronic device and cooling the interior of the electronic device with the cooling air; and cooling members cooling said heat-generating components, wherein the cooling members are arranged in a cooling channel upstream from said power source unit.
Here, as cooling members there are parts of the device, that absorb heat released from heat-generating components and release heat to the outside, thereby cooling the heat-generating components.
With such an electronic device, the power source unit to which power is supplied from an external power source also generates heat, so if the power source unit is placed upstream in the cooling channel, heat emanated from the power source unit will blow onto the heat-generating components together with the cooling air, making it impossible to efficiently cool the heat-generating components.
Thus, placing a cooling member in the cooling channel upstream of the power source unit makes it possible to blow onto the cooling member low-temperature cooling air that does not contain the heat emanated from the power source unit, which makes it possible to efficiently cool the CPU and other heat-generating components.
Since the heat-generating components can be cooled efficiently, the electronic device can be made smaller.
In the foregoing, it is desirable that the cooling members be composed so as to include a heat sink that absorbs heat emanated from heat-generating components and releases this heat to the interior of the device.
In this way, heat emitted from the heat-generating components is forcibly released by the heat sink into the interior of the device, and if one uses a heat sink that has a large surface area, the heat sink can actively absorb and release the heat, thereby further improving the efficiency with which the heat-generating components are cooled.
Also, it is desirable that the heat sink and heat-generating components be connected by heat conducting members.
Here, the heat conducting members can be manufactured from aluminum by die casting.
In this way, the heat conducting members promote the transmission of heat from the heat-generating components to the heat sink.
Even, if the positioning of the heat sink and heat-generating components is separated from the positioning of the other components, the heat conducting members can securely connect the heat sink and the heat-generating components, which makes it possible to surely cool the heat-generating components.
Moreover, the electronic device of the present invention may include heat-generating components that emit heat, a power source unit that supplies power to the heat-generating components, wherein the heat-generating components are arranged at the bottom of the interior of the device when the electronic device is in horizontal orientation.
According to such an electronic device, since, when the electronic device is put into horizontal orientation, with the heat-generating components is arranged at the bottom of the interior of the electronic device, heat emitted by the heat-generating components can escape upward in the electronic device, which promotes cooling of the heat-generating components. This can improve the efficiency with which the heat-generating components are cooled. And because the heat-generating components are cooled efficiently, the device can be made smaller.